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| South Carolina legislator seeks to give God credit for state fossil Monday, Mar 31, 2014 12:38 PM PDT By Harriet and McLeod CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - An 8-year-old South Carolina girl's dream of having the woolly mammoth become the official state fossil has been put on hold while lawmakers debate an amendment that gives God credit for creation of the prehistoric animal. A bill that recently passed the state House to designate the Columbian Mammoth as the state fossil stalled in the Senate after Republican Senator Kevin Bryant added two verses from the book of Genesis. The original measure followed a letter to elected officials by Olivia McConnell, an-8-year-old from New Zion, South Carolina. In it, she pointed out that there is no state fossil, said Democratic Representative Robert Ridgeway, who received the letter and sponsored the measure. Full Story | Top |
| FCA's handling of insurance review 'not finest hour' Monday, Mar 31, 2014 12:30 PM PDT  By Huw Jones and Chris Vellacott LONDON (Reuters) - The UK financial watchdog's handling of information that sparked a slump in insurance company shares was not its "finest hour," its chief executive said following criticism from an influential lawmaker. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) boss Martin Wheatley said on Monday he takes responsibility for what happens at the regulator after Andrew Tyrie, the chairman of parliament's Treasury Committee, described the watchdog's actions as an "extraordinary blunder". ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian PM Renzi: If Senate reform is blocked, I'll quit Monday, Mar 31, 2014 12:27 PM PDT  By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi tied his political future on Monday to a reform package aimed at creating more stable government by stripping the upper house of parliament of key functions and concentrating power in the lower chamber. In the latest step of his ambitious reform drive, cabinet signed off on a bill to transform the Senate into a non-elected regional chamber without the power to approve budgets or hold votes of no-confidence in a government. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gunman reported at Stevenson University near Baltimore Monday, Mar 31, 2014 12:19 PM PDT  Police were investigating a report on Monday of a gunman at Maryland's Stevenson University but no shots had been fired, authorities said. The school said on its website that it had an "active shooter" on its Owings Mills campus north of Baltimore. "Police are searching but have been unable to find anything at this time," the Baltimore County Police said. Full Story | Top |
| France's Hollande names new PM, pledges tax cuts after poll rout Monday, Mar 31, 2014 12:19 PM PDT  By Mark John and Emmanuel Jarry PARIS (Reuters) - President Francois Hollande named centrist Interior Minister Manuel Valls as his new prime minister on Monday, replacing Jean-Marc Ayrault who quit after ruling Socialists were trounced in local French elections. Hollande vowed to pursue cuts in labor charges for business but also promised tax cuts to boost consumer spending, insisting that EU partners take his reform efforts into account in judging whether France had respected commitments to Brussels. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. allows partial restart of Exxon pipeline a year after spill Monday, Mar 31, 2014 12:17 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. regulator on Monday allowed Exxon Mobil Corp to restart operations on the Texas leg of its Pegasus pipeline, which spilled thousands of barrels of oil into a residential area in Arkansas last year. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) approved Exxon's restart plan for a 210-mile (338-km) stretch of the pipeline from Corsicana to Nederland at 80 percent of the operating pressure in place before the March 29, 2013 incident in the small town of Mayflower, Arkansas. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. chief warns against aiding Central African Republic militias Monday, Mar 31, 2014 12:17 PM PDT  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on Monday against any support or facilitation of violence by armed groups in Central African Republic after Chadian troops were accused of opening fire on civilians and killing at least 10 people at the weekend. The shooting on Saturday was the latest in a string of violent incidents involving Chadian troops, who Central African Republic's anti-balaka Christian militia accuse of siding with Muslims and Seleka rebels and preying upon the local Christians. Ban also urged the quick establishment of a list of individuals to be sanctioned by the United Nations for undermining peace, stability and security in Central African Republic. "The secretary-general is concerned by the latest upsurge in violence in the Central African Republic ... This further deterioration of the security situation in the country has resulted in additional fatalities, a high number of injured, and increased hardship for the population," Ban's statement said. Full Story | Top |
| GM engineer OK'd sub-standard ignition switch: documents Monday, Mar 31, 2014 12:01 PM PDT  WASHINGTON/DETROIT (Reuters) - A General Motors engineer signed off on a design change for troubled ignition switches even though those changes did not meet company standards, according to documents provided to a U.S. House of Representatives panel. The disclosure appeared to conflict with information provided by GM engineer Ray DeGiorgio during 2013 legal proceedings surrounding the company's defective ignition switches that are linked to 13 deaths. ... Full Story | Top |
| Boston exhibit to showcase relics of Marathon bombing aftermath Monday, Mar 31, 2014 11:59 AM PDT By Scott Malone BOSTON (Reuters) - Archivists in Boston used to handling documents ranging from budget records to minutes of city council meetings, along with an occasional file dating to the city's 17th-century founding, have spent the last year processing thousands of sneakers, T-shirts and letters. These are the mementos left behind at an impromptu memorial built at the site of the 2013 bombing attack on the Boston Marathon, which killed three people and injured 264 at the race's crowded finish line. The memorial eventually moved to Copley Square, the site of the main branch of the Boston Public Library, and grew to thousands of items. On June 25 it was taken down on the order of then-Mayor Thomas Menino and handed over to city archivists to catalog. Full Story | Top |
| Charlie Brooks hid his 'smut' to protect wife Rebekah Monday, Mar 31, 2014 11:48 AM PDT  By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Charlie Brooks, the husband of Rupert Murdoch's former British newspaper chief, told a London court on Monday he hid his porn collection from police investigating phone-hacking because he feared leaks to the press which would embarrass his wife. Brooks' wife Rebekah is on trial at London's Old Bailey accused of conspiracy to hack phones and authorising illegal payments to public officials. They are both accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice by hindering the police investigation. Rebekah Brooks was arrested in July 2011 at the height of a phone-hacking scandal that rocked Murdoch's News Corp. empire and shook Britain's political establishment. Full Story | Top |
| Elton John to marry partner as Britain legalizes gay marriage Monday, Mar 31, 2014 11:47 AM PDT  British singer Elton John will marry long-time partner David Furnish now that Britain's legalization of gay marriage has been put into effect, the singer said in an interview on Monday. John, 67, told NBC's "Today" host Matt Lauer that he and Furnish, who were one of the first couples to become united when Britain legalized the Civil Partnership Act in December 2005, will marry in a small ceremony this year, as early as May. "We'll do it very quietly," the singer said. The singer said he was "very proud of Britain" and the progress made to make gay marriage legal. Full Story | Top |
| Kerry meets with Lavrov on Ukraine, urges troop pullback Monday, Mar 31, 2014 11:46 AM PDT  By Lesley Wroughton and Alexei Anishchuk PARIS/MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks on Sunday about ways to defuse the crisis over Ukraine, with Kerry telling Moscow that progress depended on a Russian troop pullback from Ukraine's borders. "Both sides made suggestions of ways to de-escalate the security and political situation in and around Ukraine," Kerry told a news conference late on Sunday after meeting with Lavrov for four hours in Paris. "Any real progress in Ukraine must include a pullback of the very large Russian force that is currently massing along Ukraine's borders," Kerry said. Full Story | Top |
| France's centrist 'top cop' named new PM in reshuffle Monday, Mar 31, 2014 11:41 AM PDT By Alexandria Sage PARIS (Reuters) - French Interior Minister Manuel Valls, appointed prime minister by President Francois Hollande on Monday, is a centrist with a tough stance on law and order that is popular with the public but controversial in his own Socialist party. The photogenic 51-year-old, naturalized son of a Spanish immigrant, is one the youngest ministers in Hollande's cabinet and an expert in political communication. Full Story | Top |
| GM CEO to testify company to expand replacement switch output Monday, Mar 31, 2014 11:36 AM PDT  General Motors Co Chief Executive Mary Barra will testify on Tuesday that the No. 1 U.S. automaker is sorry for the pain caused by the defective ignition switches linked to at least 13 deaths and has asked its supplier to boost production of replacement parts to speed the recall. In testimony posted Monday on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee website, Barra said she does not yet have answers to why GM took more than 10 years to catch the faulty switch. Full Story | Top |
| FSB's Carney says to crack too-big-to-fail bank barriers by December Monday, Mar 31, 2014 11:29 AM PDT  Global regulators aim to crack two of biggest barriers to ending "too big to fail" banks by the end of this year, Financial Stability Board Chairman Mark Carney said on Monday. Regulators are putting in place a complex jigsaw of rules and mechanisms to wind down failed banks without the massive market fallout seen when Lehman Brothers went under in 2008. The FSB is the regulatory arm of the Group of 20 leading economies (G20) and Carney said progress is expected by December on requiring the world's top banks to hold capital in case the bank fails. "We are looking to put ourselves in a position by Christmas to have cracked the two biggest issues," Carney told a reporters after an FSB meeting in London. Full Story | Top |
| Hollande confirms Valls as PM, stands by pro-business pact Monday, Mar 31, 2014 11:14 AM PDT French President Francois Hollande said on Monday he had named Interior Minister Manuel Valls to be his new prime minister, replacing Jean-Marc Ayrault, in a government reshuffle triggered by a rout for his Socialists in local elections. Addressing the country in a short televised speech, Hollande said a key objective for the new government would be pursuing the so-called "responsibility pact" to lower employers' costs in order to spur job creation. Full Story | Top |
| Six killed in blast in Kenyan capital: emergency services Monday, Mar 31, 2014 11:12 AM PDT  An explosion in an area of Kenya's capital Nairobi that is popular with Somalis killed six people and wounded several others on Monday, the National Disaster Operations Centre said. In the past, such attacks in the Eastleigh area of Nairobi have been blamed on Somalia's al Shabaab Islamist group, which attacked a Nairobi shopping mall in September and killed at least 67 people. "Police are securing the area for emergency response services," the disaster organization said on its official Twitter site. Nairobi's police commander Benson Kibui told Reuters the incident might have involved twin blasts. Full Story | Top |
| Russian prime minister angers Ukraine by visiting Crimea Monday, Mar 31, 2014 11:09 AM PDT  By Darya Korsunskaya SIMFEROPOL, Crimea (Reuters) - Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev flaunted Russia's grip on Crimea by flying to the region and holding a government meeting there on Monday, angering Ukraine and defying Western demands to hand the peninsula back to Kiev. But in a gesture that could ease tension in the worst East-West stand-off since the Cold War, Russia pulled some troops back from near Ukraine's eastern border. President Vladimir Putin told Germany's Angela Merkel that he had ordered a partial drawdown in the region, the German chancellor's spokesman said. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. to require new cars to have rearview cameras by 2018 Monday, Mar 31, 2014 11:06 AM PDT  The U.S. government said on Monday it will require new cars and light trucks sold in the United States to have rearview cameras by May 2018, a regulation intended to prevent drivers from backing into pedestrians. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the new requirement will apply to all vehicles under 10,000 pounds (4,500 kg), including buses and trucks. "Rear visibility requirements will save lives, and will save many families from the heartache suffered after these tragic incidents occur," said NHTSA Acting Administrator David Friedman said in a statement. NHTSA said that 58 to 69 lives will be saved each year once all cars and light trucks on the road have this technology. Full Story | Top |
| White House: No new information to offer on convicted Israeli spy Monday, Mar 31, 2014 11:06 AM PDT The White House said on Monday it had no new information to provide on the situation of Jonathan Pollard after sources close to negotiations aimed at salvaging Middle East peace talks said the convicted Israel spy and groups of Palestinian prisoners could be released in a deal under consideration. "He is a person who is convicted of espionage and is serving his sentence, and I don't have any update on his situation," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters when asked whether Pollard's release was something that could be offered as an incentive to Israel. The sources, who spoke as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry prepared to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the region, said under the proposed arrangement that Pollard, a former U.S. Navy analyst caught spying for Israel in the 1980s, could be released by mid-April. Full Story | Top |
| GE explores sale of GE Money Bank Nordics: sources Monday, Mar 31, 2014 10:57 AM PDT  By Anjuli Davies and Sven Nordenstam LONDON/STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - U.S. conglomerate General Electric Co is exploring the sale of its GE Money Bank unit in the Nordic region, which could fetch up to 2 billion euros ($2.75 billion), as it retreats from the finance sector, sources close to the matter told Reuters. GE Money Bank, established in the Nordic market in 1993, is part of General Electric's finance arm GE Capital, which is working with Bank of America Merrill Lynch to review its options, three sources said. Both GE and Bank of America declined to comment. Potential buyers for GE Money Bank Nordics include private equity firms as well as strategic players with a consumer finance presence in the region, the sources said. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. top court wary of major change to software patent law Monday, Mar 31, 2014 10:56 AM PDT By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court justices stepped gingerly into a raging debate over computer software on Monday, voicing concerns about vaguely defined patents but signaling they would avoid any radical change to existing law. This may help tech companies fend off lawsuits filed by "patent trolls," defined as companies that hold patents only for the purpose of suing firms seeking to develop new products, but not as much as a broad ruling would. From their questions during an hour-long oral argument, the justices appeared likely to rule, as expected, that patents held by Australian company Alice Corp Pty Ltd for a computer system that facilitates financial transactions were not patent eligible. CLS Bank International, which uses similar technology, challenged the patents in 2007. Full Story | Top |
| White House sees Obamacare sign-ups 'substantially larger' than six million Monday, Mar 31, 2014 10:56 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Monday that it expects final enrollment numbers for private health care insurance under Obamacare in 2014 to be "substantially larger" than 6 million after a busy final weekend of in-person and online signups. "Here on the last day of enrollment, we're looking at a number substantially larger than 6 million people enrolled," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters, noting he was not sure when the government would be able to release its final enrollment figures. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Jeff Mason; Editing by Doina Chiacu) Full Story | Top |
| U.S. administration says midday HealthCare.gov glitch resolved Monday, Mar 31, 2014 10:45 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration said on Monday that it has resolved a glitch affecting HealthCare.gov that temporarily prevented new users from accessing application and enrollment tools around midday, as website traffic volumes surged hours before a midnight deadline to enroll in private health insurance. (Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli) Full Story | Top |
| Wall Street groups pan SEC's asset-backed securities draft plan Monday, Mar 31, 2014 10:40 AM PDT  By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two major Wall Street trade groups have criticized a plan floated last month by U.S. regulators to force issuers to disclose more sensitive loan-level data to investors, saying it could make companies more vulnerable to lawsuits. In a joint letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday, the two groups asked the regulator to scrap its asset-backed securities (ABS) draft plan and start fresh. "We ... urge the commission to re-propose the ABS releases, including the portion relating to asset-level disclosure," wrote the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and the Financial Services Roundtable. "Any such re-proposal should provide definitive, coordinated federal guidance as to whether an issuer's compliance with the commission's requirements fully satisfies the other federal laws that may be implicated by the disclosure of such asset-level information." The SEC has been considering major reforms to the asset-backed securities market for more than three years, after investors suffered losses on soured mortgages during the 2007-2009 financial crisis. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. says HealthCare.gov functions unavailable to new users Monday, Mar 31, 2014 10:35 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. administration said key segments of its Obamacare website, HealthCare.gov, were unavailable to new users for a second time on Monday, as record numbers of people tried to access the site hours before the enrollment deadline for health insurance. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is responsible for implementing the healthcare law, said new users were unable to access HealthCare.gov's application end enrollment tools around midday. People already in the system were able to complete the enrollment process, officials said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Yellen strongly defends easy Fed policies, cites U.S. labor slack Monday, Mar 31, 2014 10:32 AM PDT  By Jonathan Spicer CHICAGO (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen gave a strong defense of the central bank's easy-money policies on Monday, saying its "extraordinary" commitment to boosting the economy, especially the still struggling labor market, will be needed for some time to come. In her first public speech since becoming Fed chair two months ago, Yellen cited the struggles of three American workers in backing the policies of low interest rates and continued bond-buying. Full Story | Top |
| Woman on trial in Houston for murdering boyfriend with stiletto heel Monday, Mar 31, 2014 10:28 AM PDT By Andrea Lorenz HOUSTON (Reuters) - A woman charged with beating her boyfriend to death with a stiletto high heel after a night of drinking faced a Texas jury on Monday as opening arguments began in a trial expected to take about a week. Prosecutors say Ana Trujillo, 45, stabbed University of Houston professor Stefan Andersson, 59, several times in the head with her spiked-heel shoe after the pair returned to his upscale Houston condominium from a night out. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kiev-loyal Orthodox church doubtful of its future in Crimea Monday, Mar 31, 2014 10:27 AM PDT By Gabriela Baczynska and Alessandra Prentice SIMFEROPOL, Crimea/KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian Orthodox Christians who are loyal to Kiev feel increasingly unsafe in Crimea after Russia's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula and some have already left, church leaders said on Monday. Since the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the advent of an independent Ukraine, the country's Orthodox faithful have been split between the Kiev and Moscow Patriarchates. The estimated 220,000 Crimeans loyal to the Kiev Patriarchate have long felt marginalized because of the region's strong pro-Russian sympathies, but Moscow's takeover of the peninsula has fuelled their feelings of vulnerability. Their misgivings echo those of another minority, the Crimean Tatars, a mostly Muslim Turkic people, about Russia's annexation. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. FCC votes to limit TV stations' banding on advertising sales Monday, Mar 31, 2014 10:25 AM PDT U.S. communications regulators voted along party lines on Monday to limit so-called joint sales agreements among broadcasters, deals that allow TV stations to share advertising staff, though promising to respond to any waiver request within 90 days. The Federal Communications Commission approved, in a 3-2 vote, new rules that would count a broadcaster as having an ownership interest in any station where that owner sells 15 percent or more of weekly advertising time. Broadcasters that currently have such deals get two years to divest or apply for waivers, for instance arguing that the joint sales sharing agreement has no influence on programming or actually promotes localism and competitiveness of local TV. Democratic FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has argued that such deals, known as JSAs, effectively constitute one TV station owning another and should be allowed only under specifically considered waivers. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. ambassador to India resigns after diplomatic row Monday, Mar 31, 2014 10:23 AM PDT  By Frank Jack Daniel NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The U.S. ambassador to India has resigned and will return to the United States after less than two years, the embassy said in a statement on Monday, following a diplomatic row that strained relations between the world's biggest democracies. The statement did not give a reason why Ambassador Nancy Powell had resigned, saying only that she was retiring from the foreign service after 37 years, "as planned for some time". Last month, she ended a decade-long boycott and brought Washington's policy in line with other major powers by meeting Narendra Modi, the opposition candidate who is favorite to become India's next prime minister after elections that end in May. But her tenure was marred by a row over the arrest and subsequent strip search of an Indian diplomat in New York. The United States revoked Modi's travel visa following allegations he did not do enough to prevent some 2,000 deaths during a spasm of Hindu-Muslim violence in 2002 in the state that he governs. Full Story | Top |
| Hague Court sets new trial date for Kenyan president Monday, Mar 31, 2014 10:22 AM PDT  The International Criminal Court set a new date for the opening of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta's trial on Monday, saying the October 7 start would give the Kenyan government more time to provide evidence in the case. Prosecutors allege their witnesses against Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto, on trial on similar charges, have been bribed or threatened into withdrawing their testimony. Full Story | Top |
| Hoeness sent to 'Mein Kampf' jail in tax evasion crackdown Monday, Mar 31, 2014 10:18 AM PDT By Jens Hack LANDSBERG, Germany (Reuters) - Former Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness, convicted of tax evasion in one of Germany's most spectacular cases of fraud, will spend the next 3-1/2 years in a prison that once housed Adolf Hitler. Prison officials took 160 journalists on a tour on Monday of the prison 70 km (45 miles) west of Munich, where Hitler dictated "Mein Kampf" to Rudolf Hess after being convicted for his failed 1923 beer hall putsch. Hoeness, Germany's most famous soccer manager, was convicted on March 16 of evading 28.5 million euros ($39 million) in taxes on income earned in a secret Swiss bank account. Full Story | Top |
| Virginia voters back gay marriage as court hearing nears: poll Monday, Mar 31, 2014 10:13 AM PDT A majority of Virginia voters support gay marriage, according to a poll released on Monday, which comes as a lawsuit to strike down the state's ban on same-sex unions is headed to federal appeals court. Some 50 percent of voters in Virginia backed gay marriage, while 42 percent opposed it, a Quinnipiac University poll said. The strongest support is from young people, with 69 percent of Virginia voters aged 18 to 29 backing gay marriage and 25 percent opposing it, according to the Quinnipiac poll. Full Story | Top |
| Former Italian PM Berlusconi acquitted in Unipol takeover case Monday, Mar 31, 2014 10:11 AM PDT  An appeals court on Monday acquitted former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi due to the statute of limitations in a case related to a 2005 attempt by insurer Unipol to take over bank Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL). In March 2013 Berlusconi was sentenced to one year in jail for allegedly leaking confidential information to a newspaper owned by his brother about an investigation into the takeover attempt. Italian daily Il Giornale published details of a wire-tapped phone conversation about the BNL deal between former centre-left leader Piero Fassino and the former head of Unipol. Full Story | Top |
| Emergency crews face toxic challenge in Washington state mudslide Monday, Mar 31, 2014 10:07 AM PDT By Jonathan Kaminsky OSO, Washington (Reuters) - Recovery teams struggling through thick mud up to their armpits and heavy downpours at the site of the devastating landslide in Washington state are facing yet another challenge - an unseen and potentially dangerous stew of toxic contaminants. The official death toll stood at 21 on Monday, with 30 people still listed as unaccounted for nine days after a rain-soaked hillside collapsed above the north fork of the Stillaguamish River. "We're worried about dysentery, we're worried about tetanus, we're worried about contamination," local fire Lieutenant Richard Burke, a spokesman for the operation, told reporters visiting the disaster site on Sunday. Jason Biermann, program manager for the Snohomish County Emergency Management Department, said late on Sunday that the official loss of life so far included 15 victims whose remains have been identified by medical examiners and six more still awaiting positive identification. Full Story | Top |
| Kerry returns to Middle East to push flailing peace talks Monday, Mar 31, 2014 09:50 AM PDT  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry broke from his travel schedule for the second time in a week and rushed back to the Middle East on Monday to try to salvage Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. A major stumbling block is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's demand that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas explicitly recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Sources close to the negotiations said that an Israeli spy serving a life sentence in the United States and groups of Palestinian prisoners could be freed under an emerging deal to salvage the talks. The U.S.-brokered negotiations faced a crisis at the weekend when Israel, saying it was seeking a Palestinian commitment to continue negotiations beyond an end-April deadline, failed to press ahead with a promised release of Palestinian prisoners. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. could free Israeli spy in deal to save peace talks: source close to talks Monday, Mar 31, 2014 09:49 AM PDT  An Israeli spy serving a life sentence in the United States and groups of Palestinian prisoners could be freed under an emerging deal to salvage Middle East peace talks, sources close to the negotiations said on Monday. The sources, who spoke as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry prepared to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders, said under the proposed arrangement that Jonathan Pollard, a former U.S. Navy analyst caught spying for Israel in the 1980s, could be released by mid-April. In addition, Israel would go ahead with a promised release of a fourth group of Palestinians, among the 104 it pledged to free in a deal that led to the renewal of peace talks last July. Another group of jailed Palestinians would also go free - and the peace talks would be extended beyond an April 29 deadline, the sources said. Full Story | Top |
| World court orders halt to Japan's scientific whaling Monday, Mar 31, 2014 09:27 AM PDT  By Thomas Escritt THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Judges at the highest U.N. court ordered Japan on Monday to halt whaling in the Antarctic, rejecting its long-held argument that the catch was for scientific purposes and not primarily for human consumption. Tokyo said it was disappointed but would abide by the decision, while activists said they hoped it would bring closer a complete end to whaling around the world. The International Court of Justice sided with plaintiff Australia in finding that the scientific output of the whaling programme did not justify the number of whales killed. ... Full Story | Top |
| Two suburban New York schools get all-clear after bomb threat Monday, Mar 31, 2014 09:26 AM PDT Two suburban New York high schools were evacuated on Monday after receiving anonymous bomb threats but were given the all-clear soon afterwards, allowing students to resume lessons, the school district said. Lakeland High School in Shrub Oak and Walter Panas High School in Cortlandt Manor were searched by police after receiving the threats at 10:15 a.m. EDT, Lakeland Central School District said. Shrub Oak is about 35 miles north of New York City, and Cortlandt Manor is about 31 miles (50 miles) north. Full Story | Top |
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